* Europe tracks Asian stock gains as Fed hike bets wither
* MSCI Asia-Pacific index hits 2-month high
* Dollar struggles at multi-week lows versus peers
* U.S. crude dips amid lingering global glut concerns
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Reassuring U.S. core inflation and jobless claims figures lifted the dollar off a two-month low on Thursday, while a two-month high for Asian indexes saw world shares bounce back from two days of losses.
A steady pick-up in underlying U.S. consumer price pressures and the lowest new unemployment claims in 42 years helped allay fears of a new bout of disinflation and settled some nerves after Goldman Sachs (N:GS) GS.N became to latest major Wall Street name to report a plunge in profits. ID:nL3N12F4C4
Dire data and company results on Wednesday that included $22 billion being wiped off the value of the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart (N:WMT), had seen the dollar drop overnight. .DXY
But the CPI numbers cemented a turnaround and it was pulling clear of the $1.15 per euro EUR= and the 118.10 yen JPY= levels it had tested as Wall Street's main markets also got off to a 0.3 - 0.6 percent positive start. .N .SPX .DJI .NDX
"The dollar having been on the back foot, is now less on the back foot" said Kit Juckes, at Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) in London
"But the markets are extremely fickle. Between the comments from Nowotny and a small tick up in U.S. underlying CPI we have managed to shift (the dollar direction) around. But there is only so much happiness I can get from data is still soft."
The dollar's slide was initially halted by European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny who said it was "quite obvious that additional sets of instruments are necessary" if the ECB wants to get euro zone inflation heading back towards 2 percent. ID:nF9N10U01H
The scent of stimulus helped European shares snap a three-day slide. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 rose 1.2 percent after Asian bourses, which are also eyeing stimulus from China and Japan, had hit their highest since mid-August.
A new Reuters poll showed China is expected to keep cutting interest rates and bank reserve requirements against a backdrop of slowing growth which is now expected to be 6.5 percent next year. ID:nL3N12E44Y
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS ended up 2 percent as Shanghai shares .SSEC advanced 2.3 percent, Australian shares .AXJO nudged up 0.6 percent and South Korea's Kospi .KS11 climbed 1.1 percent.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 gained 1.15 percent, as the second successive fall in manufacturers' sentiment kept pressure on its policymakers to do more. ID:nT9N11A01F
"There seem to be considerable expectations of further economic stimulus, which could mitigate some of the deflationary pressures," said Gerry Alfonso, analyst at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities.
EMERGING RELIEF
The U.S. data saw a minor unwinding of Wednesday's debt market rally. U.S. 10-year notes saw their yields climb back to 2 percent and Germany Bund yields nudged higher too though the strength of the move was questionable. US10YT=RR GVD/EUR
The chance of a Fed rate hike any time soon have all but evaporated following a month-long run of disappointing U.S. and also Chinese and European data.
European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said a rate hike by the Fed could have greater global repercussions than in the past because the economy has changed and central banks were "learning in real time" having got little experience of moving away from zero interest rates. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nF9N110007
Among commodities, oil struggled amid lingering concerns of a global supply glut and as the dollar stabilised O/R . Industrial metals got a fresh lift with copper CMCU3 near a 4-week high and gold XAU= reaching a 3-1/2 month peak.
Emerging Asian currencies also made the most of the earlier dollar weakness. The Indonesian rupiah IDR= hit its strongest in more than four months, South Korea's won KRW=KFTC touched a three-month peak and Malaysia's ringgit MYR=MY jumped more than 1 percent.
"We are seeing continuous unwinding of bearish bets on emerging currencies generally, as views of 'no U.S. hike this year' are growing," said Seungji Jeon, Samsung (KS:005930) Futures' FX analyst in Seoul.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Global assets in 2015
http://link.reuters.com/dub25t Currencies vs dollar
http://link.reuters.com/tak27s Commodities performance
http://link.reuters.com/rac73w
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Editing by Janet Lawrence)